OSAKA, Japan--(BUSINESS WIRE)--MatchBox (https://matchboxec.com/),
a business matching site that introduces Japanese crafts and local
products to overseas audiences, locates appealing sellers, and provides
the means to expand business, launches on August 11, 2014. As a result,
the site is actively recruiting companies interested in becoming buyers.

MatchBox (https://matchboxec.com/)
was developed by Seiwa Logistics Systems, an Osaka-based (Japan)
logistics company that has experienced explosive growth via its
innovative applications of IT and web systems.

MatchBox is a business matching site that introduces works specifically
focused on Japanese traditional crafts and products manufactured by
local industries for the purpose of allowing users to discover new
business opportunities. Even globally, it is the only one of its kind.

In line with the intent of the Cool Japan Initiative, which is being
promoted by the Japanese government, MatchBox has been selected as a
subsidized project in a grant known as the "Small and medium sized
enterprise - small-scale manufacturing, commerce, and service reform
project (translation)."

The goal and significance of establishing a
business matching site that specializes in introducing traditional craft
wares and locally produced products

* Japan's traditional craft wares and local products are backed by
incredibly advanced technologies. There are a vast number of products
that excel at expressing the unique beauty of Japan that are not found
anywhere else.

* In most cases however, traditional craft wares and local products are
produced by small-scale businesses or individual artists. Typically
their capacity to undertake PR for their own companies and to pitch
sales is very weak.

* Further, even when these businesses and artisans are aware of the
importance of developing overseas markets for their works, they do not
have the capacity to develop overseas sales channels through their own
efforts.

* MatchBox was established with the goal to provide new business
opportunities by matching overseas companies who want to import and sell
Japan's unrivaled traditional craft wares and local products in their
own country with makers of these traditional craft wares and local
products in Japan who wish to develop new sales channels, particularly
overseas.

* Several companies with no previous experience interacting with others
overseas are expected to register with MatchBox. For overseas buyers, it
will become possible to effortlessly search among sellers of Japan's
unrivaled traditional craft wares and local products, which until now
they had no opportunities to discover.

* The MatchBox project endorses the underlying logic of the Cool Japan
Initiative, and aims to contribute to making it a reality. The Cool
Japan Initiative was enacted by the Japanese government and is a policy
whose goal is to introduce the culture of Japan abroad.

How to use MatchBox

The MatchBox（https://matchboxec.com/）website
provides sellers and buyers with business matching opportunities.No
transaction fees are generated after both parties have concluded their
business transaction.

Buyers must first register; the only information required when buyers
register is an email address. There are no fees for browsing products.

Buyers should become acquainted with the product price, unit price,
and minimum lot when they find a product they like. Two points
designation must be obtained per product if the buyers would like to
progress to the negotiations stage. Two points costs 216 yen and can
be purchased via PayPal.